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Through the viewport of his ready room aboard the starship Wanderer, Jacen Tullar saw the muddy red-brown sphere of Mars slowly rotate, thousands of kilometers away and he couldn't help but smile at the realization that he was back in the Sol System.

Located just off the bridge of the Ambassador class starship that he had commanded now for the last six years, his ready room was his sanctum sanctorum. He stood on the raised section of floor located beneath three wide, sloping viewports. There were couches beneath the viewports but Tullar stood there with his arms crossed over his chest. He had spent those six years of command, leading his ship through hell and high water. He had fought the Klingons, the Cardassians, the Dominion, and most horrifically, the Borg. His time in command had also brought the planet Destara into the Federation, made First Contact with two newly warp-capable species and here he was, back home.

The Wanderer had visited Earth in the intervening years, of course, but there was something about this return to the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards for a major overhaul that felt... final. Like he had finished his mission. Like it had been a success and his ship, after years of exploration and combat, was finally getting a chance to rest.

The Ambassador class starship had come into spacedock barely half an hour before he had a chance to get started on the required paperwork. Mentally, he decided that the first thing he should do would be to grant his crew's leave requests. Wanderer would be in dock for the next couple of months, at least, and that would be long enough for most of the people under his command to get back to their home worlds for some rest and relaxation.

Sighing, he turned away from the viewport and headed down the steps from the raised level.

The walls of his ready room were decorated with memorabilia from his career in Starfleet; framed portraits of many of the ships that he'd served on, a painting presented to him by the new Destaran ambassador upon his world's entrance into the United Federation of Planets, a copy of his graduation diploma from Starfleet Academy, and a few other bits and pieces of Human and alien, mostly Destaran, objet d'art that he collected over the years.

It's starting to get a little cluttered in here, he thought as he sat down in the seat behind his desk. He had put on a little weight, he realized, and made a mental note to try and lose it by the time that the ship would be ready to get under way again. Activating his desk terminal, he brought up the folder of leave requests. He was about to start work on them when his combadge chirped.

"Red Alert! Captain Tullar to the bridge!," came the harsh bark of his First Officer.

Jacen was on his feet, a second later, and hurtling through the door onto the bridge. The door shooshed open for him and he stepped through it into a world of chaos. By all rights, his crew should've been more relaxed since they were safely ensconced in spacedock.

Instead, the bridge, the nerve center of his ship, was a hive of activity.

More significantly, the lights were dimmed and Red Alert lights blinked crimson. "What the hell's going on here, Susan?," he demanded as he crossed the bridge towards the captain's seat.

The tall, brunette woman that had been his right-hand woman for the last six years got to her feet as he approached. Commander Susan Murphy, his First Officer and trusted friend, said," Starfleet's just ordered all spaceworthy ships out of spacedock. It seems we've got ourselves an emergent situation, sir."

"Any clue what it is?"

"No, sir," the commander admitted," but I've already begun disengaging us from the spacedock and powering up our warp engines. Starfleet's mobilizing every ship in Sector 001."

Jacen's blood froze. "Whatever it is, this must be big."

"Yes, sir," she agreed with him. "And I can only think of one thing that would elicit this kind of reaction from Command."

He shared a significant look with her. "The Borg."

Wanderer was speeding away from Utopia Planitia at maximum impulse just moments after leaving spacedock. Seated in the center seat, Tullar couldn't help but squeeze the arms of his command chair so tightly that he thought his fingers might break.

To his right sat Susan and the seat to his left was unoccupied. In front of his say his senior flight controller, James Lawson, and his operations officer and second officer, Aquiel Uhnari, at their respective posts. Behind him, Science Officer Selana and Nolin Kriyn, his long-time tactical officer, would be waiting at their posts. The tension on the bridge was palpable among his senior staff and the rest of the crew. They had all fought the Borg before, twice now, and still, they were all terrified of them.

They have every right to be, Jacen thought.

He didn't need to be a Betazoid to sense that the same tension and terror permeated through the entire ship and probably throughout the entire Sol System. Already half a dozen ships had gathered at the rendezvous point, all of them on full alert and with their weapons charged.

"Do we have any more data from Starfleet Command?," asked Tullar.

"Yes, sir," Uhnari responded, the young Haliian woman's voice catching in her throat. "Massive subspace distortions matching the frequencies of Borg transwarp conduits have been detected in the outer reaches of the system."

"This could be the invasion we've been worrying about for years," Kriyn remarked from Tactical.

"Any idea on how many cubes, Commander?," the Captain asked Uhnari, ignoring the Bolian's doom and gloom.

"No, sir, but considering the size of the distortion..."

Jacen shut his eyes for a second as she trailed off, blocking the rising panic in his chest. He knew the Borg better than most, having once been their 'guest' for a week and having spent several fear-filled days as a resident of a timeline overrun by them where they had successfully prevented the launch of Zefram Cochrane's warp ship, the Phoenix. He and his crew had escaped assimilation then, but only by the skin of their teeth and they would now.

"Kriyn, I want all power to the shields. Load all torpedo bays and charge all phaser banks," he ordered, looking over his shoulder at him for a moment before looking ahead again. "Mr. Lawson, standby for evasive maneuvers. Aquiel, patch us into the fleet's transmissions. As soon as they've come up with a strategy, I want us to be acting flawlessly in concert with it. Selana, what can you tell me about these distortions?"

"Little more than Commander Uhnari could," the Vulcan woman answered him. "It matches our records for a distortion caused by Borg transwarp conduits, though it is significantly larger and more concentrated than any that we have seen in the past."

"What about the nature of the conduit itself?," Tullar asked her. "Could there be any way that we could collapse it or destabilize it once it's been opened?" Or before, he silently added.

"None that I can gather from these readings, sir," Selana said, delivering her grim announcement with her standard, uninflected tone.

Tullar envied her emotional control and not for the first time. "Ok," he said, taking a deep breath. "Patch me into ship-wide."

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the Captain speaking. As I'm sure you've already surmised, we've been ordered out of spacedock and into the face of an emerging threat to the Sol System. It's my solemn duty to inform you that we believe this threat to be linked to the Borg. You're all well-trained, consummate professionals. Many of you have fought the Borg before and the rest surely know what to expect. Be assured that we're not alone in this fight. More than two dozen ships stand ready to defend Earth, Mars, and the rest of the Alpha Quadrant. Stay at your posts and stand by for combat. Tullar out."

With a slashing motion across his throat, he signalled Murphy to cut the channel.

"Sir," Uhnari said suddenly," the conduit is opening."

"On screen."

The forward viewscreen shimmered into life. There was a starscape displayed, studded with various starships. Jacen spotted the Venture, a Galaxy class behemoth, and the Merrimack, a Nebula class science ship, among a few smaller ships, but he realized that the gathered fleet, though rapidly swelling in size, would be no match for a full Borg invasion. They wouldn't match up much to even a single cube.

And then, just beyond the fleet, an anomaly burst into life like a sickly green blossom amongst the stars.

The bridge crew collectively held its breath and Jacen imagined the same thing happening throughout the solar system... and then a single Borg sphere emerged. A second afterwards, the anomaly collapsed.

Tullar's pulse pounded in his ears, remembering how long and hard Wanderer had fouhgt against a Borg sphere, not a year earlier in the Beta Arduchi system. It had been a sphere that had already suffered heavy damage at the hands of a Romulan task force. This time, it was a fully-armed and operational sphere and he had no doubt that though it was much smaller than the cubes that the Federation had suffered such great losses against in the past, it was nonetheless a very real and present danger.

"Kriyn, I want firing solutions on that sphere now," he ordered. "Prepare a full spread of quantum torpedoes. Lieutenant Uhnari, do we have anything from Command as far as a fleet strategy goes?" May the Great Bird spare me from bumbling admirals.

"Captain," Selana said suddenly before the Haliian could answer him," the sphere is exploding."

"What?!" The fleet hadn't even opened fire yet.

"My God," Susan said from beside him.

They watched, dumbfounded, as the sphere erupted into azure flames. It flew apart, nothing but a momentary fireball, before it was gone. From the conflagration flew a small ship and Jacen strained to make it out against the flames. There was no mistaking that familiar saucer-shaped primary hull and pair of nacelles...

"It's one of ours," Ensign Lawson said in disbelief. "Intrepid class."

Relief flooded over Tullar. He knew that Voyager had been lost in the Delta Quadrant for the last seven years, trapped in the farthest reaches of space, far from home and facing hostile alien species with no kind of support from Starfleet. He hadn't followed their story in the press as closely as he would have liked but he knew the basics. Wanderer's captain also knew that they should still have been very near the terminus of the border between the Beta and Delta Quadrants, still tens of thousands of light-years away from Federation space.

And now here they were. They were home and delivered there in the middle of a Borg sphere, nonetheless.

"We're getting a transmission from Command," Aquiel announced, barely suppressing a relieved giggle. "All ships are ordered to secure from Red Alert and stand down from defensive postures."

On the screen, Jacen saw the plucky little starship speed towards the waiting arms of its Federation brethern and he couldn't help but join the rest of the bridge crew in a grin. "By all means, Commander, do as they say," he ordered," and tell Captain Janeway that she and her crew are welcome home."

"Aye, sir."

"Mr. Lawson, set a course.... for home..."

The End.

__________________
Thank you to FltCpt. Bossco at STPMA for my avatar. He is one of the best. This is Tolen, a Horrusi captain in Starfleet, who commands the Sovereign class starship U.S.S. Sangamon.

A very nice short piece Jack. It introduces us to Captain Tullar and many of the key players (good to Aquiel back) of the Wanderer, as well as getting to see an Ambassador-Class ship in action. It is also good to see the Starfleet response to "Endgame".

This is a wonderful introduction to a workhorse starship that’s obviously seen a great deal of action under Captain Tullar’s command. I enjoyed the feeling of decompression after the conclusion of a long assignment, suddenly interrupted by an emergency smack dab in the center of Federation space.

Granted, the Terran system seems to get invaded pretty frequently (V’Ger, Whalesong Probe, Borg, Breen, etc) but you never really expect it when you’ve just pulled into ‘the garage’ for a hundred-thousand light year tune up!

I’m looking forward to more adventures with Wanderer’s captain and crew!

Another installation of the Wanderer series. Thanks to everyone for your comments and praise. I should have more soon.

‘Fixation’
By Jack D. Elmlinger

Jedani Corryn strode down the hallway, fighting to keep her panic in check. Here she was, again, on a new ship with no friends and no inclination to make any new ones. Well…, she thought, smiling faintly, causing a young ensign to look at her, somewhat oddly, no old friends. Just no organic ones. The Kobliab lightly patted her pocket, feeling the reassuring weight and shape of an isolinear chip.

Passing through the inhabited sections of the U.S.S. Wanderer and into area as yet not populated, she lengthened her stride, eventually breaking into a run. She skidded to a halt in front of the first holodeck that she saw and removed the chip from her pocket. Carefully – ever so carefully – she slid it into the card reader in the holodeck’s computer.

“Read or download?,” the computer asked her.

“Download, and then password-protect the file to my vocal pattern,” she commanded.

The computer chirped an affirmative. There was a slight hum/whirring sound from the reader and then… “Download complete. Remove chip and enter when ready.” Jedani carefully removed the chip from the reader and stowed it safely in her pocket. She waited until the doors were open before stepping inside.

Standing just inside the door was a single hologram of a man in a Starfleet Medical uniform. He had a slightly puzzled look on his face.

“Jedani?,” He asked. “What are you doing here?” he looked around the holodeck before adding,” What am I doing here? Where are we?”

Corryn held up the single isolinear chip. “I couldn’t leave you behind, Doc. I’m sorry.”

The Emergency Medical Hologram’s confusion seemed to grow for a moment until a look of suspicion and then anger filled his face. “You didn’t!,” he cried. “Please tell me that this is some engineer’s joke and that this is still the Arthur C. Clarke! You didn’t take me with you to the Wanderer!”

Jedani’s smile faded. She paced back and forth until she finally spun on her heels to face the EMH once again. “How could I not?,” she asked him. “They were going to replace you? How could I allow one of my best friends to be just… just… quietly decommissioned?”

“What?” There was fear on the hologram’s face. “Replace… me?”

“Starfleet said that you were inferior. They were replacing you… And all of the Mark-IIs… With Mark-IIs. ‘Feminine’, they said. ‘Superior bedside manner’, they said. Well, I couldn’t just sit by and leave you there to be… to be discontinued. Okay?” She was close to tears.

The Doctor tentatively approached her. He sighed and said,” I hope you got clearance for this and that you didn’t just steal me, Commander Corryn.”

Jedani looked up at him, blinking through the tear that were threatening to spill down her face. “I did,” she whispered.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. “Good. Now, let’s talk about the real reason about what you wanted to bring me along.”

The Kobliab sat down on the holodeck floor and looked up at him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Right,” he responded,” and you brought me along because you have so many organic friends here, right?” He sat down next to her, lowering his voice slightly. “Or what it was because you were afraid?”

“Afraid of what? Afraid you’d miss me?”

“No. Afraid that what happened to Max might happen to one of your friends if they come to rely on you.”

Jedani’s eyes went wide. She shot up to her face, her clear skin pale by comparison. “Never mention that name again!”

The Doctor stood up as well, staying a respectful distance from her while keeping his hands raised in a non-threating gesture. “You’re afraid that the ghosts of your past might come to haunt your vision of the future. They already are, Jedani, and they will as long as you hold onto your guilt!”

In a rush, he closed the distance between them and grabbed her by the shoulders. Her eyes shot up in a gesture of hostility mixed with surprise and anger.

”It wasn’t your fault!,” the EMH shouted.

Jedani Corryn stepped away from him, breaking his grip on her. “Be that as it may,” she said in a deadly, calm voice, not betraying her inner turmoil in hearing the name that she thought she’d forgotten and that she had burred long ago. “I can’t let it happen—“ She broke off as she heard the holographic physician hum softly to himself.

“What is that?,” she asked him.

“This?” The Doctor hummed the tune again and Jedani nodded. “It’s just an old Earth tune. It just happens to make me think of you.”

Jedani raised an eyebrow. “How does it go?”

The EMH paused, then sang softly.

Make new friends, but keep the o-old,
One is silver and the other’s gold.”

”SHUT UP!,” she cried at him. “I didn’t come here for counseling or to be scolded, or to be—“ She broke off, looking miserably at the hologram. “I have a mission briefing at 1500. Senior staff. I have to be there.”

The EMH nodded and then, almost affectionately,” Take care of yourself, Jedani.”

The new Chief Engineer of the U.S.S. Wanderer nodded. “Computer, save and end program. Lock access to my vocal patterns.”

There was an affirmative chirp from the computer and the Doctor vanished. The holodeck doors opened and as she left, she found herself singing the song under her breath in Kobliab.

”Make new friends, but keep the o-old,
One is silver and the other’s gold.
A circle is round, it has no e-end,
That’s how long I want you as my friend.”

The End

__________________
Thank you to FltCpt. Bossco at STPMA for my avatar. He is one of the best. This is Tolen, a Horrusi captain in Starfleet, who commands the Sovereign class starship U.S.S. Sangamon.